Finding dust in your home is no fun! It often seems that no matter how much you clean, it keeps coming back- especially if you have an older house OR if you have pets.
What is dust?
Dust is made up of all kinds of particles including plant pollen, dead skin cells, and fibers from clothing and paper. When it accumulates, it’s annoying and can be unbearable on asthma and allergy sufferers. To make matters worse, with dust come dust mites. Grossed out yet?!
It’s impossible to get rid of it all and keep it away, but you CAN control it by sticking to these 8 easy tricks.
1. Change your bedding once a week. Dust mites love to sneak in sheets, pillows, and mattresses. Encasing your mattress and box spring in an allergen-proof cover, along with washing your bedding once a week, should be enough to reduce those icky creepy-crawlies.
2. Keep your closets clean. Garments stored in closets shed lots of fiber. So unless you want a blast of dust confetti each time you open the closet door, it’s best to keep your closet vacuumed and dusted regularly. You can store your clothing is totes and garment bags as well like I do for seasonal clothing.
3. Keep clutter from floors. Don’t ignore piles of clothing, toys, magazines, books or anything else on the floor. Cleaning around them won’t take care of the dust that has settled in or around them. Also, make sure you can vacuum behind appliances once a month as well as under furniture.
4. Say “no” to carpeting or keep up. It may look and feel good, but carpeted floors are high-maintenance and magnets for dust mites. They should be vacuumed daily, especially with pets.. but even that may not be enough for people with severe allergies. If you’re attached to your carpet, consider investing in a vacuum cleaner with a double-layered microfilter bag or a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter, which prevents and seals the dust from being re-introduced into the air. If you stick to hardwood, vinyl, linoleum or tile flooring it will be easier but you should be vacuuming/dust mopping instead of sweeping.
5. Take it outside. Dust from area rugs should be shaken outside.
6. Using the right duster. Feather dusters only provoke existing dust and cause it to settle elsewhere around your home. Instead, use a water-damped cloth or a dry cloth and dusting spray to wipe down surfaces.
7. Clean from top to bottom and dust before vacuuming! The old school tip! Clean the highest surfaces first and work your way down, so you capture any dust you missed, and of course dust BEFORE vacuuming. (I still recommend a HEPA filtered vacuum.) Your allergies will thank you for the investment.
The last tip is the most important way to effectively fight dust with full power..
8. Air purifiers and Air filter maintenance. If you have severe allergies or asthma symptoms, an air purifier can be very beneficial — but that doesn’t mean you can ditch the duster! While they filter dust particles, they don’t take care of dust mites (since they’re not airborne). Also, for an air purifier to be effective, you’ll need one for each room. Check out these cheap but effective air purifiers.
Another thing is changing your air filters regularly. You may not fully understand WHY this is such a big deal, learn more here because it really does help to keep those changed out. If you live in an apartment or something like that, just ask the maintenance person!
Reducing dust in your home can relieve allergy and asthma sufferers making your home healthy and actually (REALLY) clean. Now, go show those dust bunnies who is boss!
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